1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for providing augmented television services based on detected content of a program content stream.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing broadcast streams may contain machine-readable semantic information or metadata that is relevant to the program and the viewer. For example, the ATSC digital broadcast specification includes information on the current program in the broadcast stream. However, this information is limited in two important ways. First, the content encoding is not provided at a sufficient level of granularity to enable a CTV service to determine what is being viewed moment by moment. Second, and more definitively, is the fact that the vast majority of televisions receive information through a Set Top Box (STB) that does not pass this information to downstream devices, such as the television (TV).
The market for television sets is extremely price-sensitive. In order to sell at scale the Bill of Materials (BOM) for a television set must be low enough to enable competitive retailing. This means that it is cost-prohibitive to offer additional services by way of expensive hardware in the television set itself that would help to deliver valuable new services.
There are existing and widely implemented methods of delivery for television programming, such as cable TV systems, satellite delivery systems, and conventional terrestrial broadcast systems. Enhanced services must work well with content delivered through all of these delivery mechanisms.
In theory, one could more easily enhance television programming if it were entirely digital, and delivered in packet format through IP networks. However, the current state (and for some time to come) of Internet bandwidth severely limits the amount of programming and the number of recipients that could be served in this manner. For example, the World Series, or even a modestly successful network television show, could not be delivered to the audience demanding it, as there does not exist enough bandwidth to accommodate the flow of data required for these programs. Therefore, achieving the delivery of relevant, valuable enhanced services in this manner is a nonstarter, except in experimental or “boutique” services.
At the user interface level, the availability of enhanced services can be completely overlooked by the user, because the interactive services may not be visible onscreen during broadcast. Users typically like their programming to occupy the entire screen, and therefore no overlay or other controls will be visible to let the viewer know a service is available, thus limiting the uptake and value creation (for user, broadcaster, and service provider) that enhanced, interactive television services can provide.
It is in this context that embodiments of the invention arise.